Trial shows circulating tumor cells predict how prostate cancer patients do with ch...( (PHILADELPHIA) -- The number of tumor ...),Health

(PHILADELPHIA) -- The number of tumor cells circulating in the bloodstream of patients with metastatic, hormone-resistant, prostate cancer can predict how they will do with chemotherapy, according to results of an international trial. The findings, if backed by larger studies, could have important implications for designing personalized treatments for this very dangerous type of prostate cancer, the researchers say.

The team of scientists including first author Jose Moreno, M.D., clinical associate professor of urology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson looked at circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in 240 men with metastatic prostate cancer that failed hormone-depletion therapy. They compared levels prior to chemotherapy and after two to five weeks of treatment. They found that those men with more than five tumor cells per blood sample had a worse prognosis than those who had fewer cells. One half of the patients with more than five CTCs lived at least 10 months, whereas half of the men with fewer tumor cells lived substantially longer 21 months.

Dr. Moreno presents the trials findings June 4, 2007 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

The results of the 65-site trial also showed that those patients who underwent chemotherapy and whose CTC number went down fared better and had a more favorable prognosis. That is, the level of response to chemotherapy was reflected in the CTC level, notes Dr. Moreno. The numbers held up even after up to 20 weeks of treatment. If chemotherapy doesnt reduce the CTC level, its information that enables the physician to change the drug regimen or perhaps stop treatment, he says.

Dr. Moreno notes that the prostate specific antigen has been a powerful biomarker for cancer presence and a useful way to gauge treatment effectiveness for years, though it has some flaws. He thinks that th
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Contact: Steve Benowitz
steven.benowitz@jefferson.edu
215-955-5291
Thomas Jefferson University
4-Jun-2007